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Never, Kentucky is not your average scenic small town.
It’s a place where the dead and the living can find no peace. Not that Forest, an 18-year-old foster kid who works the graveyard shift at Lincoln Hospital, knew this when she applied for the job. Lincoln is a huge state mental institution, a good place for Forest to make some money to pay for college. But along with hundreds of very unstable patients, it also has underground tunnels, bell towers that ring unexpectedly, and a closet that holds more than just donated clothing….
When the dead husband of one of Forest’s patients makes an appearance late one night, seemingly accompanied by an agent of the Devil, Forest loses all sense of reality and all sense of time. Terrified, she knows she has a part to play, and when she does so, she finds a heritage that she never expected. With her deep knowledge of mental illness and mental institutions, Susan Vaught brings readers a fascinating and completely creepy new book intertwining the stories of three young people who find themselves haunted beyond imagining in the depths of Lincoln Hospital.
“Teens looking for an eerie ghost story will want to check this one out.” School Library Journal
“Vaught’s gradual building of her ghost-busting team nicely juggles attitude and fright, and she excels at bringing each story to a conclusion while still driving to an overall climax. Readers not ready for full-on nightmares will eagerly check into this madhouse.” Booklist
“Vaught mines a wealth of local history and urban legends to achieve her scares . . . This is still a cinematic ghost story that requires only a dark and stormy night to complete the mood.” – BCCB
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Jason can’t stop the voices in his head, and he can’t escape suspicion when his best friend–the girl he loves–disappears.
What did he do?
What should he do?
It’ll take everything he has to save what matters to him.
“. . . A nuanced portrait of a teen living with a severe mental illness, both in its devastating difference and its common truth.” Booklist
“Freaks Like Us is a compelling, superbly crafted story that will hook you and grab you from the first page. More than a book about mental illness written with an insider’s knowledge, it is also a love story and a story written with love about young people on the outskirts of what the world calls normal. I urge you to read it” Francisco X Stork, author of Marcelo in the Real World
“I love this book. Susan Vaught has absolutely nailed this character, his pain, struggles and triumphs. Bravo!” Terry Trueman, Printz Honor author of Stuck in Neutral
“Freaks Like Us by Susan Vaught is in a class of its own,” Sunday Telegraph
Listed as one of ‘Eight Books That Just Might Change Your Life’ Bookpage.com
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Brenden’s on his way to the beach when he makes a pit stop in a tiny desert town called Live Oak Springs Township. It’s a weird place, no question. Maybe even frightening. It doesn’t take long for Bren to realize that something in L.O.S.T. isn’t right—and it might be that witchy girl in the general store.
Too bad he hates her on sight.
Jasmina Corey has a secret, and a very big problem. Bren may be the solution. Her magic tells her that Bren has a warrior’s heart, that he might be the one to help her defeat a creature so evil it threatens to destroy the witching world and all of humanity, too.
Too bad she might have to kill him.
The L.O.S.T. trilogy takes readers on a wild ride through ancient lands, dangerous magic, dark nightmares, and the sparkling, silver hope of love and loyalty.
Please Note: The L.O.S.T. trilogy was previously published under the pseudonyms Debbie Federici and Susan Vaught
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He’s a good guy.
He has a great parrot.
He has a decent (okay, weird) job, a lot of dreams–and absolutely no future at all. At seventeen, he’s a felon without many options, and he’s almost okay with it. Almost. Until he meets Livia and wants much, much more of what life has to offer. Del must face his past and his fears to move forward, even though a sea of complications threatens to bring the world crashing down around him again.
“Del’s story—alternating between flashbacks and the present day—is tragic, frustrating, and believable, and teens should have no problem empathizing.” —Publishers Weekly
“A valuable look at the downside of prosecutorial discretion and its impact on teens.”—Kirkus Reviews
An assassin legally kidnaps a terrified boy.
A ruling lord orders an atrocity so devastating it changes the course of history.
So begins this epic tale of love, trust, and betrayal, in which two boys must put aside their childhood understanding of their treacherous world and accept their own incredible power to make a difference.
“A complex and original fantasy…” –Kirkus Reviews
“Excellent piece of high fantasy… None of the characters are cardboard cutouts of fantasy archetypes; they are richly drawn, compelling, and unique…” ―VOYA
“This novel is best suited to voracious fantasy readers eager to devour another story of an unlikely hero caught up in an epic adventure.” –School Library Journal
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Chan Shealy makes good grades and twirls baton like a college majorette. When she toys with an on-line boyfriend, she thinks she’s following all the rules. So what if he’s not quite what he claims to be? So what if he turns out to be a closet perv? She can handle him–right?
“Compulsive, page turning reading.” –Booklist
“Vaught does an excellent job of portraying the kinds of vulnerability that predators exploit and gradual, innocent-seeming seductions that lure the girls into compromising situations.” ―BCCB
“…An important, timely topic…” —School Library Journal
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Jamie Carcaterra isn’t just a fat girl. She’s THE fat girl, baby, and she doesn’t care if you like it or not. Just read her column. She’ll let you know exactly what she thinks–and make you wonder what you think, too.
“This zesty page-turner will hook readers with romance and energy while addressing a woefully ignored subject.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Speaks forcefully about fat issues to those who have experienced them—as well as to those who haven’t.” —Booklist
“Jamie is a strong, interesting character who grows over the course of the novel, recognizing her own contradictions. This is a powerful story for readers of any weight.” —School Library Journal
“Thought-provoking and, frequently, vigorous.” —Publishers Weekly
“Readers will not only be challenged but also changed by meeting Jamie.” —BCCB
“Jamie’s character is so well drawn that readers will feel her misery. …[T]he story is so well written that Jamie’s agony is poignant to anyone, regardless of where one falls on the weight scale.” —VOYA
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One Bullet… One Boy… One Choice…
When surviving isn’t good enough, there’s always Mardi Gras.
What does Rusty Quinn do when her mom loses touch with reality, her best friend’s dad explodes over a kiss, her other best friend gets committed to a psych ward, and the sanest person she knows is an egotistical Finnish exchange student who swears in a language nobody understands? She could write a soap opera, of course – or go to Mardi Gras. In fact, she could do both!
Funny how destiny comes down to single choices, focused moments, and split-second decisions.
Can running away to Mardi Gras really change four lives forever?